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The more modern, educated women in these countries are fighting against it, but it's an uphill battle.
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I think that's the key cloud. Those women need support and assistance. If they seek that support and assistance, we should make it available. I don't see any other way really, that isn't going to actually drive more people towards it as a reclamation of their culture in the face of western imperialism. We have to enure that those women who are trying to fight it have the resources and the help on the ground that they need. It needs to be organised by them so that their actions are not just dismissed as a western intervention.
Hideously complicated situation. An American friend of the family, is working in this field and has written some fascinating papers. There is no easy answer. Often when parents do decide not to put their girls through this, the girls themselves are so bulllied by the other children (especially the other little girls) that they beg for it to be done. Also there are many cases of parents returning from trips away to find that the grandmother has had the procedure done in their absence. Fathers and mothers are often divided on this to. In some cases (particularly in some of the more traditional villages) the mother has no real say in it and is unable to prevent it happening. But....in some other cases where the man has decided he doesnt want this doing to his daughter, the mother has it done secretly because she believes it is in her child's best interest.
There are areas where there has been a resurgence of the practice as a way of reclaiming cultural identities as the colonial powers withdrew.
In some areas, it is believed (quite genuinely) that without this procedure, the girl's cliterus will grow until it resembles a penis. That is the sort of thing that education can tackle directly. But as cloud says, this has been going on for thousands of years. Ending the practice will be a difficult and drawn out process.